What happens if you go out of business

I know this has been discussed on the SparkFun forums, and in an email privately between Hugo and Myself, but I do think it is a valuable to at least mention this here on the Electric Imp site itself:

What happens to Imp-based products I ship if you go out of business, are purchased for you IP/staff, pivot, or otherwise stop supporting the Imp? Do you have any plans to ensure ongoing functioning? For example, PogoPlug puts the source code for their servers in escrow, so existing PogoPlugs can continue to operate.

I’m very interested in this question as well.

Jason

We do have plans, but they are not yet public.

The source code doesn’t actually help very much as you also need DNS control, which doesn’t share well - so the solution is a little more complex and involves source code and being able to claim your devices back from the imp server.

We do have plans, but they are not yet public.

Excellent, I am very glad to hear that. Of course I would be even more happy to know what they were ;). Will they be covered in the post agents state of the union you mentioned in a different post?

The source code doesn't actually help very much as you also need DNS control, which doesn't share well - so the solution is a little more complex and involves source code and being able to claim your devices back from the imp server.

And the PogoPlug has the same issues, and they have ways of dealing with that in the code escrow and documentation plans. I think we can agree that I am not talking about a simple source drop, but a complete plan to allow our Imp based devices to continue to operate should the unthinkable happen.

They won’t likely be covered in that post, no. You’re not the first to have asked and obviously we take longevity seriously. The exact details will likely be discussed during contract negotiations.

The exact details will likely be discussed during contract negotiations.

So am I right in assuming that this isn’t something available to all customers then?

There are many options available, depending on the size of the customer and as such the process would be customer-dependent.

For example, customers who aren’t of a size (or technical ability) to be able to run the necessary server may well become served by another provider who offers to host a multiple-vendor server. Running a server for a low number of devices could be significantly more expensive than paying someone else to operate the service - ie, the same thing we’re doing.

I wish I could say I found that answer more reassuring than I do.

Why do these options (whatever they are) have to wait until contract negotiations? I can understand that the price might be, but keeping the options secret does not help those who are try to decide if the Imp is the right answer or not.

In another post you said that communicating has taken a back seat to developing features. I would like to suggest they are co-equal in importance. As a developer, yes I need new features, but I also need to have some kind of idea as to when they might be delivered, and what they are. And I need to know answers to fundamental things like “what happens if you go out of business?” before we get to negotiations.